Linscheid Library Blog

Research Spotlight: Dr. Darcy Tessman, Assistant Professor, Family and Consumer Sciences

Main take-away

Few issues are as black and white as they seem. Understanding the complexities of a problem can bring new understanding and help inform decision making.

Research question

What challenges do transfronterizo (Spanish for cross-border) students face in getting an education?

Description

On the Arizona-Mexico border, there are many families who were affected by significant changes in immigration laws after September 11, 2001. Parents who were citizens of Mexico could legally live in the US according to immigration laws pre-9/11. Any of their children born in the US automatically became US citizens. After the immigration laws changed in response to 9/11, Mexican citizens were required to go back to Mexico, but their children could not be educated in Mexican schools because they were not Mexican citizens. The children were also not accepted in Arizona schools because they did not have an Arizona address. Therefore, families in this dilemma had to give up guardianship of their children to a US family so they could attend school.

This created many difficulties for the children and their parents, as Dr. Tessman discovered through 300 observations of 7 transfronterizo students and 9 parents over two and a half years. These issues included:

• If the children missed their families and wanted to stay with their parents, they risked getting suspended from school if the school followed them home and realized they were crossing the border.
• Parents were often not able to get visas to attend their children’s school events, even their high school graduation.
• Students could only be taught in English, according to Arizona laws, which made it difficult or impossible to communicate with their Spanish speaking parents about new things they learned in school.

Main finding

The presence of a caring, bilingual adult had the greatest impact on helping students overcome these barriers.

Behind the scenes story

One of the students in Dr. Tessman’s research shared a story about being in 2^nd grade and doing an experiment with baking soda and vinegar to make a volcano. She was so excited to share the experience with her mom and try the experiment at home. However, she did not know the Spanish word for vinegar. Her excitement changed to disappointment as she realized she could not share her experience with her mom. As a teenager, this student said there were thousands of these moments.

Applications to disciplines

Dr. Tessman’s research has applications to students studying a variety of disciplines, including: Education, Family and Consumer Sciences, Social Work, Legal Studies and Political Science.

Applications to current events

Click the links below for similar research that looks at the complexities of the following issues relevant in current events:

• DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals): Swan, R. S., & Clark-Ibáñez, M. (2017). Perceptions of shifting legal ground: DACA and the legal consciousness of undocumented students and graduates. Thomas Jefferson Law Review, 39(2), 67-92. (opens a new tab).
• Refugee crisis: de Wal Pastoor, L. (2017). Rethinking refugee education: Principles, policies and practice from a European perspective. International Perspectives On Education & Society, 30, 107-116. doi:10.1108/S1479-367920160000030009 (opens a new tab).

Read more of Dr. Tessman's research from the University of Arizona Campus Repository (opens a new tab).

If you would like your research or creative work to be featured in the blog, please contact Marla at mlobley@ecok.edu or at 580-559-5308.